


What We Deemed Not Possible

by Hekate1308



Series: Sherlock Holmes/Sally Donovan Universe [16]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-30
Updated: 2013-10-30
Packaged: 2017-12-30 22:05:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1023922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hekate1308/pseuds/Hekate1308
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John Watson hasn't been surprised often, but almost every time he was it had to do with Sherlock, so it's hardly strange that the consulting detective has managed to surprise him once again. Sherlock/Sally through John's eyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What We Deemed Not Possible

John Watson hasn’t been surprised often, but almost every time he was it had to do with Sherlock, so it’s hardly strange that the consulting detective has managed to surprise him once again.

And he doesn’t mean by coming back from the dead, although that was a big enough shock – and the best surprise he ever got in his life, he’ll admit, although he did punch and shout at him before allowing him to explain how and why he had done it.

By now, he’s living in Baker Street again, working with Sherlock, and he’s happier than he’s ever been, so in the end, he can’t find it in himself to be angry any longer.

No, he means the fact that –

He has been suspecting for a while –

There seems to be –

It’s just possible that –

Sherlock Holmes and Sally Donovan are falling in love.

And he doesn’t know what to think about it. If there was something he’d never have suspected, it’s this.

And yet –

It makes sense, in a strange way. They are both passionate about their work; they are both confident; they are both stubborn. They fit, and if Sherlock hadn’t been so adamant about his asexuality and Sally hadn’t hated him, he might have made the connection earlier.

Sherlock told him (after he had screamed and made him explain everything and tended to his nosebleed and they had caught Moran) that he had spent two nights on Sally’s couch because she hadn’t wanted him to sleep on the street.

He was a little surprised. He had never really blamed Sally for Sherlock’s death – really, with Moriarty and Mycroft in the picture, it was difficult to see how anyone could be blamed beside them – and he’d known, or rather suspected, that she had been feeling guilty for how things turned out, at least that was what Greg had told him when he’d explained that she, as the leader of the task force re-examining their old cases, was proving Sherlock right almost every day.

So, no, aside from how she’d treated Sherlock, he never really had a problem with Sally Donavan, and now, when they are clearly friends, he can easily admit that he’s even starting to like her quite well.

She greets him politely when they meet at crime scenes, always referring to him as “Doctor Watson”, probably because she feels she needs to make up for all the warnings she gave him regarding Sherlock by being as polite as possible. He returns her greeting and then helps Sherlock, who she still refers to as “freak” – but the venom is gone. It is clear that they both consider it a nickname now, so he doesn’t say anything. She stays around, instead of leaving as quickly as possible like she did before... everything, studying them, listening to his best friend.

John thought it would end there when he first noticed the change. Because, really, a good working relationship was all he could have imagined concerning Sherlock Holmes and Sergeant Sally Donovan, and that was strange enough.

But then Sherlock started visiting her in her flat when John and Greg were unavailable. He didn’t tell him much about this visits – just that he’d “been at Sally’s” – and John didn’t pry because it was enough to know that the consulting detective had somewhere to go when he was lonely, someone to talk to, that he wouldn’t do anything stupid while no one was keeping an eye on him.

Lately, Sherlock has been spending more and more time with her, although John is sure his friend, for once, doesn’t realize what is happening to him, to them.

Because by now they are meeting for coffee and lunch regularly, because by now Sally can get Sherlock out of his head at crime scenes, because by now –

He may not be Sherlock Holmes, but he knows something about feelings. And he sees the looks Sally has been shooting Sherlock for a while, even though she’s probably not aware of it. He sees the smiles she only gives him, he sees how her eyes follow him on crime scenes.

Normally, as was the case with Molly Hooper, John would be sorry for her and stop thinking about it. But the fact is that, whether Sherlock admits it to himself or not –

He reciprocates her feelings.

He doesn’t stare at her with a dreamy look in his eyes or text her constantly or do any of the things people always suppose someone in love should do; no, it’s the way he says her name, the fact that he knows everything about her, from her favourite composer to her favourite dress and yet hasn’t even tried to delete any of it, it’s how he answers when she asks him something even though he’s searching his mind palace that tells John that Sherlock is falling in love with her.

Although he is equally sure that Sherlock won’t admit it, will probably outright reject the idea of falling in love. He still insists on calling himself a “high-functioning sociopath” despite sacrificing three years of his life to save his friends.

Stubborn sod.

He knows Sally doesn’t suspect the consulting detective has feelings for her – isn’t aware of her own feelings, most likely – but she will realize what’s going on soon enough.

He only hopes Sherlock will allow himself to see what’s right in front of him in time.

Soon enough, Sally realizes what has been staring her in the face all along, and John would gladly laugh if she didn’t wear an expression like the world was about to end. He and Sherlock just caught a paedophile, and Sherlock almost fell off a roof in the process.

John is ready to swear his heart stopped for a second.

He pulled him back, though, and he saved him, and Sherlock is still there, so that is all that matters to him. Sally was shocked, however, and looked like she couldn’t decide whether to hug or punch Sherlock and John knew that, in this moment, she’d realized what was happening between them.

So one of them knows, and the other one –

Sherlock can be annoyingly blind sometimes, especially where feelings are concerned. He will probably never consider their shared lunches and coffees as dates, no matter what Sally wishes, and no matter that he quite clearly has feelings for her in return.

John decides to watch Sally and Sherlock closely, maybe there will be a way to make Sherlock see what’s going on after all.

He and Greg discuss it over a pint one evening and the DI admits that he asked Sally about her relationship with Sherlock, and that, judging by the look in her eyes, she is convinced that nothing will ever happen between them, even though he’s noticed the change in Sherlock too.

It’s utterly frustrating, but there is hardly anything they can do. Locking them in a room and throwing the key away sounds tempting but he doubts it would work.

And then Mycroft gets involved. Really, John would have thought he’d do so sooner; he must be getting slow.

One day, Sally is staring at Sherlock at a crime scene, as usual, but she seems nervous, so he decides to ask what’s going on. She sighs but tells him.

"Mycroft gave me the big-brother-talk."

John raises and eyebrow. So Mycroft has noticed, of course he has.

"You mean the whole–"

""If you hurt him, I'll hurt you". Sort of. As if that isn't the most ridiculous thing –"

If Mycroft gave her the “big-brother-talk”, then that means one of the most intelligent men on the planet is convinced his brother has feelings for the Sergeant as well.

He tells her spontaneously to call him by his first name, and if this should make her suspect the true state of things – he doesn’t care. Because he is going to make sure Sherlock sees the light.

John informs Greg of the developments, and they decide to speak to Sherlock separately. While they both are not keen on interfering in another man’s life, Sherlock is their friend and he might just let something that has the potential of making him very happy pass him by.

 John tries first and informs him that his brother kidnapped the Sergeant.

"Mycroft kidnapped Sally?" Sherlock is concerned, angry even, and John hides a grin.

"And by the way it looks, not without justification." He hesitates for a moment to let his words sink in. "Sherlock... what is it between you and Sally, anyway?"

"Nothing” Sherlock answers, but quickly, too quickly even for Sherlock Holmes, and it tells him all he needs to know. "We're friends."

John smiles. Sherlock may not admit it to himself yet, but the doctor has planted the seed. "Alright then".

According to Greg, his talk with Sherlock goes in quite the same way, so the resign themselves to wait.

They don’t have to wait long, because apparently Sherlock asks Mycroft about Sally’s kidnapping and for once it comes in handy that the British Government is an irritating interfering sod.

Sherlock goes to Sally’s in the evening and spends the night, curtly informing John on his return that he kissed her and that they “have decided to embark on a romantic relationship”. It isn’t exactly the most passionate of declaration, but there is a new light in his eyes, and John can tell that he’s happy in a way he never was before, so he simply nods and smiles and makes tea.

From then on, their relationship grows stronger and stronger and John and Greg can’t help but grin every time they see them together, simply because it’s wonderful to see them happy.

There are disagreements, and more often than not John is caught in the middle of them because Sherlock needs his advice in such situations (not that he would admit it, but still). He doesn’t mind.

He remembers to text Sally when Sherlock is after a criminal so she won’t worry, and in return she informs him when Sherlock’s with her. They drink tea together when she spends the night at Baker Street and gets up before the consulting detective. Sherlock starts leaving body parts in her fridge and she doesn’t complain (much).

Somehow, it works, and John is rather sure not even them could say why.

She gets Mycroft and Sherlock to talk to one another, which is nothing short of a miracle, and, over time, once he’s met Mary, they have triple dates including him and Mary and Sherlock and Sally and Greg and Molly.

It’s strange, but that’s how their lives have turned out, and none of them would have it any other way. Over the course of the years, it’s difficult to even remember he wanted a normal life once.

Thankfully Mycroft decides to buy the house next to 221B and give it to John and Mary as a wedding present – he protests but only very half-heartedly – so he can always help Sherlock and spend as much time with him as before his wedding.

By this time, even though she still has her flat, Sally practically lives in Baker Street, and, what’s more –

John is starting to have another suspicion regarding their relationship.

Only today, when he was walking down the corridor in St Bart’s to tell Molly about Mary’s pregnancy – he’s going to be a father, he still can’t believe it – he met Sally coming out of her lab, looking flushed and nervous but somehow incredibly excited at the same time, and she simply smiled at him and left, and he found Molly (who was trying to hide what she was doing, but she’s never been good at that) testing blood.

If Sally were sick, he would know about it, Sherlock would know about it. There’s only one reason she would go to Molly and ask for a test –

Because she doesn’t want anyone to know until she’s sure.

Apparently John will never stop being surprised as far as Sherlock Holmes is concerned.


End file.
